Oblivion Tide
by wgfddg
Summary: Accused of a crime he never committed. Cursed to an existence he never deserved. Betrayed by the very gods he fought to save. He swore that someday, he would return. But is Percy Jackson still a hero? What darkness has he become?
1. Betrayal

**_AN: Hey everyone, so new story and all that. This fanfic is meant to be a sort of darker twist on the cliched betrayal stories that involve Percy being accused of treason and stuff like that. I'm planning on making this a Pertemis (Percy x Artemis) fanfic, so Percabeth shippers, I'm sorry about that but you won't see any Percabeth in this story. And no, you can't bribe me :) (nobody's tried yet, but anyways) I just don't really like reading or writing Percabeth fanfics for some reason._**

 ** _Please give me feedback on this story so I can improve my writing! Reviews are always welcome, the longer the better._**

 ** _(Oh, and insert obligatory "I don't own PJO or HOO or any of the characters found in the aforementioned stories because my name isn't Rick Riordan, etc., etc." statement here)_**

* * *

 _\- Chapter I -_

* * *

 _(Unknown)_

 _My name is Oblivion._

 _I am the creature that walks with the darkness. I am the fear that blows with the night wind. I am the terror that strikes your heart like a cold steel blade. I am one with the shadows, one with the darkness itself. I am a harbinger - a harbinger of death._

 _I walk the earth, hated by many, shunned by all. And wherever I set foot, darkness follows close behind. I leave trails of bloody carnage wherever I go. I do the action that my name itself reflects - the one I once claimed, and the one I hold now. I banish things to Oblivion. I spread indiscriminant destruction - monsters, half-bloods, entities of all types, all felled by my hand and the inevitable darkness I bring with me._

 _I destroy._

 _Perhaps I_ am _a cold-blooded murderer. Perhaps I was_ fated _to become the way I have become. It was an open secret that the Fates have always hated me. They probably see me as some sort of entertainment. They probably laugh at every torturous moment of pain and suffering I go through._

 _I never chose this existence. I never wanted to live a miserable half-life, forsaken by everyone who I once called a friend. I never wanted to be betrayed, to be left for dead and forgotten by history. I never wanted to have my hopes crushed time and time again._

 _What did I ever do to deserve this in my past life? Nothing. Absolutely nothing._

 _I was not always like this, a lost, wandering soul. Once, I was happy. Once, I had friends. Once, I truly held a place in the world._

 _Once, in a time long past, in memories long vanished, I was a hero. In an era long forgotten, buried deep within sad, hurtful memories. I have saved the world, not just once, but twice. I have battled countless evil foes and saved countless innocent lives. I have ensured to future generations safety and security that my predecessors could only have dreamed of having. I was offered the highest reward any mortal could receive - and rejected it for the greater good._

 _I have saved and protected_ them _so many times over, coming to_ their _aid as a pawn even when there was no true gain for me. And yet when I was in my darkest, direst hour,_ they _turned on me._

They _branded me a traitor._ They _labeled me a dangerous enemy._ They _scorned me when I was down._ They _threw me into the darkest, most evil place in the universe, deeper down even than Tartarus itself, to suffer a terrible punishment for a crime that I was innocent of._

They _were the ones who betrayed me. And_ they _have made a terrible mistake._

 _Lash out at the darkness. But the darkness will strike back._

They _have committed injustice upon injustice to me. For that,_ they _shall pay. For all the blood, sweat, and tears I have shed for_ them _, for every cruel twist_ they _have thrown into my life,_ they _shall suffer. For all the grief, all the pain, all the despair I have faced in my life,_ they _shall feel tenfold what_ they _inflicted upon me._

 _Their blood will run through rivers and oceans. Their bones will rot into piling mountains. Their names shall be stricken forever from the world._

 _For I will sweep upon them, and destroy them. I will tear them down until there is nothing left of them. And they will know the power of darkness. With their last breaths, they will know that it was_ they _who brought this fate unto themselves. And they will rue the day they committed a horrendous crime against the one they once called their Hero._

 _My name is Oblivion._

 _I am the creature that walks with the darkness. I am the fear that blows with the night wind. I am the terror that strikes your heart like a cold steel blade. I am one with the shadows, one with the darkness itself._

 _And I seek revenge._

* * *

 _(Percy)_

 _"PERSEUS JACKSON!"_

The room went silent. Every eye was focused on me, glaring at me, boring through my skull and into my mind. I froze in shock and denial as the words sank in. _No,_ I pleaded internally. _This couldn't be happening, this wasn't real, this was just a dream..._

"You have conspired against the gods!" Zeus bellowed. He stood up, towering over me at his full godly height. "You have become too powerful to be allowed to roam freely on this earth! You must be destroyed!" His eyes were blazing, his Master Bolt gripped tightly in his hand.

Tears rolled down my face as I desperately looked around the throne room, and my heart sank. Many, too many, of the gods were showing their agreement, glowering at me like I was the filth at the bottom of a sewer. Other gods just looked bored, probably about to vote for my death just so they could leave and go hook up with some mortal. A few of the gods looked shocked, but none of them were objecting. Some of them were slowly nodding their heads!

It was already obvious which way the vote would go.

"No!" I protested. "I'm innocent! I would never betray you! I saved all your lives twice! My fatal flaw is loyalty!" But even as the words left my mouth, they sounded weak and unsure.

"Look at him," Ares laughed. "He doesn't even believe himself!"

I was on my knees, begging now. "If you don't believe me, I'll swear on the River Styx that I'm innocent! I'll swear on the Styx that I'm not a traitor, that I've never helped Kronos and Gaea, and that I won't betray you!" Thunder boomed, and the other gods seemed to fall silent momentarily.

But Zeus looked furious. "Lies! Styx is the wife of a Titan! You must've struck a deal with her! We already have enough proof of your disloyalty!"

"I was framed! I'll say it again! My fatal flaw is loyalty!"

"Loyalty to our enemies!" Zeus thundered. "Seize him!"

Ares, Athena, and Hermes leaped out of their thrones and charged at me. I got up shakily. "No, wait -" I was thrown to the ground. I felt Riptide being wrenched away from me, my arms being forced behind my back, heavy bronze chains tied around me.

"Please!" I pleaded. "I'm not your enemy! Listen to me!"

"Silence him!"

Ares smashed me on the forehead with the hilt of his sword and forced a rag into my mouth. My vision grew fuzzy, and I felt something warm trickling down my cheek.

With effort, I raised my head and stared at Zeus. "Fine then," I managed to choke out. "If you refuse to believe me, go ahead! Throw me into Tartarus!"

Zeus glared down at me with contempt and hatred. Lightning flashed and danced in his eyes. "A very clever attempt, but you cannot fool me. I know everything about your escape from Tartarus, and I will not make that mistake! No, sea scum. Your punishment shall be much worse than that.

"A being of your power cannot be allowed to live, even in the depths of Tartarus! No, your punishment shall be greater than imprisonment. For daring to betray us, you shall be thrown into the eternal void of Chaos! Your soul shall be destroyed utterly, disposed of cleanly like the garbage that it is!"

I heard gasps from everyone in the room. Then I heard the voice of my father. "No! Brother, you are going too far!"

"Silence, Poseidon!" Zeus spat venomously. "I am the King, and I shall choose the punishment for _his_ treachery. Unless you want to be deemed a traitor, too, alongside the result of your broken oath?"

My father became quiet.

Zeus looked around the room at every god and goddess. "Are there any more dissenters who disagree with the chosen punishment?" He demanded loudly, his gaze lingering on Poseidon.

Silence.

My heart sank lower with every passing second. Tartarus would've literally been a living hell. But at least I would've been alive. Perhaps in a few centuries, the gods would've realized my innocence. Maybe I could've been saved...

But this was the final, worst punishment. The one that I had no hope of surviving at all.

"Very well," Zeus finally spoke, satisfied with the silence that he'd received as an answer. "Although I believe there is no question of _his_ guilt, in accordance with tradition, we shall now take a vote. All who wish for punishment, raise your hands!"

Zeus's hand shot into the air, followed almost immediately by Ares's and Athena's hands. Apollo raised his hand tentatively a second afterwards. Four to ten, Hades and Hestia included.

A few seconds later, Aphrodite surprisingly raised her hand into the air, followed by Hephaestus. Dionysus raised his hand a couple moments after that.

I was shocked at how many gods and goddesses with seemingly no motives had so quickly voted against me. Apollo and Hephaestus had always been on pretty good terms with me; Aphrodite had idolized me as some sort of model. But now, as I stared at them, they were glaring at me with hatred that I never knew they had held towards me before.

I glanced around the throne room. Seven to seven. Hades, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Artemis, and Hermes hadn't raised their hands. I felt relief slowly flowing back into my heart. I'd reclaimed Hades's and Hestia's thrones. Poseidon was my father. I'd been Hera's pawn. Demeter had never had a quarrel with me. I'd rescued Artemis from being stuck under the sky. And I'd managed to redeem Hermes's son, Luke. None of them had any reason to vote against me.

I was safe. I didn't allow myself to believe it at first. But when five seconds ticked by and none of them had made a move, I let myself breathe out in relief.

I was safe.

Zeus looked around in disappointment. "Anyone else? Are you sure you don't want to convict this traitor of his crimes?" Nobody moved, and a flood of relief coursed through my body. I was free!

I should've known.

The Fates are so cruel. Every day, they kill thousands of people. They knit terror and hardship into the lives of innocents, watching from afar with apathy as they suffer the torments they are put through. They have forced me through ten lifetimes of trial and tribulation, never even giving me a tiny break to recover from one event before throwing another one at me.

Why? What did I ever do to deserve any of this?

Artemis seemed to be fighting an internal struggle with herself. Her face was contorting as emotions flashed across it. She hesitated for an imperceptibly short moment.

She raised her hand.

* * *

 _(Artemis)_

I don't know what made me do it. I'd always thought that Perseus was the only good male in the world, the exception in a sea of Orions and Herculeses. Ever since he'd been on the quest to rescue me, I'd always held him in higher esteem, treating him differently from the pigs that most males are.

So why did I raise my hand?

* * *

 _(Percy)_

My heart thudded to the bottom of my chest like a stone. As I watched the deciding vote being cast, emotions raced through my mind: shock, disbelief, fear, anger. But most of all, I felt bitterness.

Bitterness at the verdict. Bitterness at the fact that I'd saved the gods not once, but twice, only for them to toss me out like a used garbage bag. Bitterness at the harshness of reality, at the fact that I'd never be able to live a long, happy life, that I'd never be able to spend my future with Annabeth the way I'd dreamed, that I'd never have a future at all.

Several things happened at once.

Poseidon jumped up out of his throne. "No!" he shouted. "I won't! I won't sit and let this injustice happen! I won't let you kill my son!" He pulled out his trident and charged at his brother. Even now, a spark of hope and gratitude towards my father lit up my heart.

Zeus wore a triumphant, smug smirk on his face. With one hand, he gestured towards Poseidon. "Restrain him," he ordered. Ares and Athena leaped out of their thrones. They intercepted my father and threw him to the ground, chaining him up even as he struggled and cursed bitterly at them.

The rest of the gods who had stayed by me did nothing but sit in shock. Hestia met my gaze and gave me a sad smile.

And Artemis... the one goddess who had completely ruined my life with one movement of her arm. She looked conflicted, still battling with herself despite the irrevocable choice she had just made.

Zeus turned to me, the ugly, smug smirk still plastered to his disgusting face. "The council has spoken! Anything you want to say, _traitor_?" he sneered.

I took a deep breath and looked him straight in the eye.

"Yes, the council has spoken, and not in my favor." I said, as calmly as I could. "Throw me into the depths of the void if you so wish to! There's nothing stopping you now. Go ahead! Do whatever you want with me! But this I swear."

My voice slowly rose and grew louder. "This I swear. Some day, be it tomorrow or a hundred years from now. Some day, you will regret this choice you have made. Some day, you will realize how wrong you were to convict me, and you will rue this day for the rest of your immortal lives. Go ahead, laugh at me, call me insane for saying this! But one day, you will realize the truth of what I say now. Because the day when you need me the most, the day that an enemy appears that you cannot defeat, I will not be there to fight your battles. You will fight in vain, knowing that you could've prevented your own destruction today. This is the curse that I lay upon you, and this I swear on the waters of the Styx. This I swear on the unending power of the universe, on Chaos himself!"

Upon that last word, I surged forwards and spat on Zeus's face, a glob of spit landing squarely in between his eyes. Ares, Athena, and Apollo leaped at me and dashed me to the ground. I coughed up blood.

Zeus wasn't smirking now. Growling, the god forcefully wiped the spit off his face. If he wasn't already ticked off, now he was furious. He stepped forwards, gripping his master bolt so tightly his knuckles were white, until he was looming over where I lay on the ground.

"You. Insolent. TRAITOR!" He spat. With each word, he zapped me with a small charge from his master bolt, flooding my nerves with pain, but not enough to kill me. "You have tested my patience enough! For this, you shall not only be forever destroyed, but your name shall be erased completely from history! Your friends and fellow campers will never remember you as their hero! You shall never be spoken of, you shall never hold a place in posterity! That is the curse that I place upon _you_!"

He raised his master bolt, pointed it at me, and fired. I screamed as my body arched as millions of volts of electricity flowed through me. My vision shattered and went black.

* * *

 _(Unknown time skip)_

I was dimly aware of being carried. All around me, I could hear whispering, the chattering of lost souls. The air was cold and damp, and dark. "Where am I?" I wondered aloud.

I was smashed on the head with the hilt of a sword. "Shut up," Hephaestus hissed at me. "Traitors like you aren't supposed to speak. And to answer your question, we are in the darkest corner of Hades. Soon, you shall receive your punishment."

"Why did you vote for my death? We were on good terms before this," I asked.

In reply, I received another smash on the head. I stumbled a bit, but straightened up after getting kicked. My skull was ringing, and I was beginning to feel dizzy.

We marched in silence for awhile, a silent gallows procession.

Then I heard Hades announce with a hint of regret, "We're here."

The gods fanned out in a semicircle, surrounding me, preventing my escape. Not that I even wanted to, anyways. I'd already resigned myself to my fate.

I was standing on the edge of a cliff that dropped straight down into pure darkness. Even from where I was, fifty feet from the edge, I could feel something tugging on my, urging me to run towards the cliff and jump off the edge.

 _Yield,_ a voice whispered. _Give in to the darkness. Submit your soul to me. It would be better that way._

With the little strength I had, I fought the voice as best I could, although I knew that it was pointless; soon, I'd be joining it in the void.

Zeus emerged from among the other gods, holding his master bolt at the ready. "Your death approaches, traitor!" he said with a hint of smug satisfaction. Someone kicked me forward to the edge of the cliff. I looked down into an endless sea of pitch black.

"Any final words?" Zeus sneered.

Ignoring the pain that shot up my nerves, I stood up and faced the semicircle of gods. I spoke calmly. "Hades, Hera, Hestia, Demeter, dad, and Hermes, thank you for standing by me. Even if your action was futile, it still means a lot to me." Then, I turned to the other seven, the ones who had condemned me. "For the rest of you, I only have one thing to ask you. Why? I saved you and your stupid mountain not once, but twice. I've never done anything but help you, and for no gain of my own. So why did you turn on me?"

My voice became hard. "Why did you turn on me when I've never done anything bad to you? You call me a traitor. Well, what proof do you have? Remember my words. The next war that you fight, you will lose, and you will know that it was because you cast your hero away like a piece of used-up trash." I looked towards the goddess whose arm movement had destroyed my life. "And _you_. I saved _your_ life not just twice, but _three times_. If it weren't for me, you'd still be stuck under the sky. And how do you treat me? Like this. Maybe I should've left you there. Maybe if I hadn't saved you, my life wouldn't be like this!"

I paused for a moment. Silence.

Finally, I turned to Zeus. "Oh, and Zeus? Some advice. Find some better insults. Using the word _'traitor'_ over and over again gets boring fast."

I turned to face the entire group, one last time. "Goodbye everyone."

Then before the stunned gods could react, I backflipped into the void.

* * *

Some free advice for whoever's reading this: don't backflip into the void. It's really not as great as it sounds.

At first, it was barely noticeable. A sort of chill in the back of my head, clouding my thoughts, obscuring my memories. I easily repelled the weak force.

But as time passed, it grew stronger. With each passing second, it took more effort and concentration to think, to call up memories. It was like trying to see through a descending fog, fighting an uphill battle.

I could feel my memories beginning to drain away. I could feel them slipping through my fingers. I struggled to clutch them to me, to keep my memories, to _remember_. But the dark voice in the back of my head was gaining strength, like a parasite infecting my healthy mind, pushing other things out.

* * *

 _I ducked underneath a hellhound, slashing at its underbelly as it leaped over me. As it exploded in a shower of dust, I rolled to the side and jumped to my feet, narrowly missing being trampled by another one._

 _An empousa ran at me, but I stabbed Riptide through its chest, yanking it out only to parry the spear of a dracaena and slash through it while it was distracted._

 _Through the haze of war, I could see Annabeth on the other side of the battlefield. I fought my way through the crowd of monsters, stabbing and hacking left and right. A hellhound jumped in my way, baring its fangs. I stabbed my blade between its eyes and tore it out, continuing to make my way towards her. An empousai charged in at me, yelling "Put down your weapon!" My arm twitched, but I resisted the charmspeak and thrust my blade into its stomach._

 _Finally, I made it to Annabeth's side. She turned to face me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."_

 _"Hey, Wise Girl," I replied._

 _She turned back to the fighting. "Let's kill some monsters, shall we?"_

 _I grinned. "Just like always."_

 _Together, we charged back into the fray._

 _Then a fireball lit up the sky._

* * *

At first, they were small memories. Bits and pieces of random battle scenes. Things I ate on particular days.

* * *

 _Everything was pitch black. Behind us, we could still hear the sounds of Nyx and her children fighting. Before us, we could now hear a faint booming sound, like a heartbeat. As we ran through the pitch darkness with out eyes closed, I sensed the walls becoming less confined, more open. We were getting close to the Heart of Tartarus._

 _Suddenly, I sensed a river ahead of us. I pulled Annabeth back from the drop just in time._

 _There was something wrong with the river. It was as if I could hear tormented voices coming from just below the water's surface, crying out for help, accusing us of being murderers._

Join us! _The river seemed to urge._ You're no better than we are!

 _Behind us were evil children of Nyx. Before us, a black river that spoke of murder and called to our hidden guilts and sorrows. The river called up images of all the deaths I could've prevented. Zoe. Bianca. Luke. All the sadness I'd caused. All the death I'd caused. Maybe I deserved to suffer for eternity in the Acheron. Maybe..._

 _I forced the thoughts out of my mind. The throbbing sound had grown to an all-encompassing boom. The Heart was just ahead. All we needed to do was jump._

 _"There! Kill the ungrateful tourists!"_

 _I grabbed Annabeth by the waist. We jumped..._

* * *

Bigger memories were vanishing now, leaving behind every-growing black holes.

* * *

 _Standing on the sheet of ice, my friends behind me, I charged into battle. As the shades closed in on me, I yelled in defiance and swung my sword._

 _I fought like a whirlwind, slicing through ghost after ghost. It was only later that Frank told me that I'd actually been surrounded_ by _a miniature hurricane of ice and water._

 _I came up with a plan. Plowing through the line of spirits, I knocked down the standard bearer and grabbed the eagle. "You want it back?" I shouted. "Come get it!" The plan worked. The legion of angry ghosts forgot about Frank and Hazel and charged at me._

 _I was at the end of the Via Principalis, holding off a horde of rampaging shades. I slashed and hacked, but every time I killed one, it instantly reformed. I was losing ground fast._

 _Then, as I saw Hazel and Frank take down Alcyoneus, I had a brilliant, incredibly stupid idea._

 _I motioned at them. Go! Then I slammed Riptide into the ice. A wave surged up, carrying everything, me along with, over the edge._

 _ **(AN: I took about 99% of that from The Son of Neptune ... just saying. I claim no ownership over anything that Rick Riordan wrote.)**_

* * *

Memories were whipping through my mind, faster than ever now. Beckendorf ... the battle of the Labyrinth ... Mt. Tamalpais ... Bianca's death ... fighting Polyphemus ... first meeting Tyson ... recovering the Master Bolt ... defeating the minotaur ...

The battle of Manhattan ... Luke's sacrifice ...

* * *

 _"Family, Luke," Annabeth whispered, struggling to speak. "You promised."_

 _Kronos's form flickered. His eyes turned from gold to blue. "Annabeth..." Luke gasped. "You're bleeding..." I could move again._

 _Annabeth raised her knife, but it fell from her grasp. I grabbed it where it lay on the floor of the throne room and planted myself between Kronos and Annabeth._

 _Kronos growled. "Jackson..." His form seemed to be flickering golden._

 _Then Luke regained control for a moment. "He's changing. Help. He's ... he's almost ready. He won't need my body anymore. Please -" His sentence was cut off as Kronos fought back. His sword lay in the embers of the hearth._

 _Luke turned to me again. "Please, Percy..."_

 _I knew I could do it. I could kill him now, save the world._

 _"You can't ... can't do it yourself. He'll break my control. He'll defend himself. Only my hand. I know where. I can ... can keep him controlled."_

 _I raised the knife, preparing to strike. Then I remembered Rachel's words. You are not the hero. It will affect what you do._

 _In that instant, I knew what I had to do._

 _"Please," Luke begged. "No time..."_

 _I handed him the knife._

 _He exposed a spot under his left arm, his Achilles heel. Then he stabbed upwards. He howled in agony._

 _The throne room shook as a blast of energy engulfed us. Then it was over.  
_

 ** _(AN: almost all of that ^^^ was directly taken from The Last Olympian. Once again, I claim no ownership over anything that Rick Riordan wrote. The above memory that is italicized belongs entirely to him.)_**

* * *

Names flashed through my mind, allowing only a glimpse before they were left behind in a whirlwind of thoughts.

 _Jason. Piper. Hazel. Frank. Leo._

I gasped as memories of all my friends slowly leached from my mind, leaving blankness in their wakes.

 _Thalia. Nico. Grover. Juniper._ _Clarisse. Chris. Travis. Connor. Katie. Rachel. Zoe. Bianca. Luke._

I squeezed my eyes shut, clamped my hands over my ears, futile defiance against an unstoppable foe.

 _Tyson. Chiron. Poseidon. Sally Jackson._

I tried everything, anything to stop the inexorable march towards the dark abyss of oblivion.

 _Annabeth._

I clutched at my last memories with all my might, fighting hopelessly against the inexorable power of the darkness.

With the last vestiges of my strength, I let out a feral, primal scream, embodying all the pain I'd ever endured, all the sadness I'd ever felt, all the anger, all the fear, all the despair. A sudden surge of pure emotions, flooding every hidden niche of my body. Then it ended.

 _I'm sorry, my friends. I failed you all._ A last thought before it was all gone.

Replaced by hollow emptiness.

The emptiness of the void.

* * *

 ** _AN: So what do you think so far? Good? Great? Horrible? And yes, a huge chunk of the memories were taken almost directly from the books. I own none of them. Only the plot of this story._**

 ** _To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure where I want this story to go. As of now, I have plans for Percy to somehow have survived the fall into the Void and return, but succumb to the darkness of the Void and the bitterness and resentment that he holds to the gods, and become evil. But after that, I have no idea. I hope all my future chapters can be 5K ones, though, like this one._**

 ** _Should I redeem Percy and have him save the world for the third time at the end? Or do you think I should permanently make Percy evil and turn this story into a dark, bitter story of heartbreak with no happy ending? Please tell me in the reviews :) I look forwards to your feedback! Right now I'm leaning more towards redeeming Percy because I tend to like happier endings better, but I'll see what my readers want :)_**

 ** _(Also, if I decide to make this story have a happy ending, it won't be as sudden as it is in many other betrayal stories. Percy's been betrayed by people he's saved many times and condemned to a horrible punishment he never deserved, he's going to hold lots of resentment towards them. Nobody in their right mind would go "You know what, I'm just gonna forgive you for betraying me because this story just has to be so sickeningly full of forgiveness and we're all gonna ride off into the sunset with huge smiles plastered on our faces.")_**

 ** _I have another story besides this one, Shadows of the Lost World, please remember to check it out and give feedback!_**

 ** _\- XxShadowOfTheFuture_**


	2. Offer

_**AN: Sorry for how long it took for me to update. A lot of the time, I'm not on FanFiction and instead I'm doing stuff that's completely unrelated to my writing. I also procrastinate a LOT when it comes to this type of stuff, and once I ended up having to redo the entire chapter almost 2K words in because of inconsistencies I noticed between it and the first chapter. Once again, I'm sorry. I'll**_ **try** _ **to do better next time, but no guarantees. I just don't really work that well with deadlines when it comes to writing :(**_

 _ **I'd like to reiterate that this will NOT be one of those spontaneous forgiveness stories that I see all over the place. Don't get me wrong, some of them are well written and I enjoy reading them, but a lot of the time they drive me off the rails. Especially the ones that include the guardian of the hunt cliche. I mean seriously, what kind of a person, after being TORTURED and nearly KILLED by the hunters, just decides a few seconds later to up and COMPLETELY FORGIVE them, on the logic that "they were doing what they were taught to do"?! The only ways that someone would right away forgive someone who's spent MONTHS TORTURING them, is if they're a saint sent down from heaven, or if they're so completely mental that they have no awareness of the world around them. And as far as I know, Percy's neither of those. I'm trying my best to steer away from that particular cliche, especially since it drives me crazy. So yeah. Thanks for reading my rant.**_

 _ **(I'm too lazy to write a disclaimer here, so... insert obligatory "I don't own PJO, HOO, or any characters afflitiated with the aforementioned series like Percy or Annabeth, because my name isn't Rick Riordan, etc. etc." text here. Oh look, I just wrote it :P)**_

* * *

 _\- Chapter II -_

* * *

 _(Percy)_

A voice whispered through the darkness. _Hello, fallen hero..._

My eyes flew open. I gasped for breath. Darkness, all-encompassing darkness everywhere. I could make out absolutely nothing. I could see nothing, hear nothing, feel nothing. Nothing. _Where am I?_ I felt like I was in one of those sensory deprivation tanks, unable to see, smell, hear, feel, completely and utterly isolated from the senses of the outside world. I wondered how long it would take me to go insane.

Maybe I already was.

My thoughts were completely jumbled together like some sort of soup. Questions flew around in my non-existent brain. _Where am I?_ Who _am I?_ _Why am I where I am right now?_ Question after question pelted me like a torrent of hail. Yet amidst the endless, stormy sea of questions, there was not an island, or even a tiny rock of an answer to be found. Ever more disturbed grew my thoughts as they refused to resolve, to be satisfied.

I racked my brain, trying to think clearly, which was a near-impossible task. I struggled to find a reason why I would be down here. Did I jump down here? Did I fall into this Void by accident? Was I pushed down here by someone who I'd angered? No reason I could come up with made any sense.

And yet... I felt like far back, in the deepest, darkest reaches of my mind, there was a memory chained down that yearned to come free. I knew that it was something important... it was at the edge of the shroud of the forgotten, on the border where I knew it existed but couldn't decipher it.

It was like I was tugging in darkness at something trapped in muck, and every time I thought I gained, whenever I thought I could finally pull it up to the light, it would once again sink down, lost once more. A futile struggle to recover something that was slowly slipping away from my grasp, perhaps soon to be lost forever in obscurity, never to be known again. Even more futile when I knew what that memory was.

I fought to remember something, anything about my past, about my life before I ended up here. The friends I once had, the things I once did, anything that could potentially jostle something new, reignite some lost spark.

Nothing.

I strained every corner of my mind, reaching out to grab at a wispy fog.

There were six, - no, _seven_ people. Yes, seven. And a ship. Was there something about a ship? A place with twelve houses strikingly different from each other. Another girl wearing a silver tiara, her image already blurring and fading. A boy dressed in all dark colors, his face unrecognizable. A girl with blond hair and gray eyes, who I _knew_ with almost certainty, _knew_ that she was important somehow, and yet she was slowly disappearing into the realm of the forgotten. What was her name again? I knew it began with an A. Andrea? Alice? Anne?

Let alone someone else's. I couldn't even clearly remember my own name.

It began with a P... something to do with someone being lucky... mythological heroes... AARGH, it was right there on the tip of my tongue... I screamed out loud in frustration, breaking the heavy silence with a shrill, stabbing noise. Why does everything keep eluding me? What did I ever do to deserve this?

Something else. Another snippet of an evanescent memory? A name, a face, a location? Or just another meaningless thought?

A massive room. Fourteen huge chairs. No, not merely chairs, what was the word for it again? Thrones. A man wearing a maniacal smirk, holding a huge, glowing sword-like object. A scream. Shouts of protest. Then familiar inky blackness.

Was this a clue? A clue to my past? A clue to why I was here, stranded amidst nothingness?

 _Indeed, hero..._

I was torn away from my internal struggle as suddenly as I'd woken up a few moments before. A voice... I wasn't alone! There was something else, someone else here! My feeling of loneliness dissipated, replaced with hope. Hope for something new. A new friend. New knowledge. Maybe this voice knew something about me, about my past, about why I was thrown into this place.

"Hello," I called out. Silence.

"Anyone here?" Silence.

I waited, completely still, completely quiet, straining my ears to catch the tiniest whisper, the smallest murmur, the most infinitesimal sign that someone else might be here in this void along with me.

Silence.

Utter silence.

I felt stupid. I cursed myself for my stupidity, for clutching at false hope. _Why would I even think that there was something else here with me? I'm probably just imagining things. Maybe I'm going crazy. I probably already am... And even if there was, why would they care about me anyways? I'm just another amnesiac who ended up here. Why would I think that they'd know anything about my past? Why would I think they'd have any answers? I didn't even know anything about myself..._

 _There are many things I know about you, hero... many things..._ A soft whisper that seemed to fade out into silence.

The voice seemed to come from every direction at once, and yet from nowhere. It had a haunting, echoing tone, so quiet that for a few moments, I wondered whether I'd heard anything at all, and yet incredibly powerful. Above all, it had a strange, indescribable quality to it, something that I just couldn't exactly put my finger on, something ineffable.

I was positive that it was real now. It had said something... that it knew something about me... that it knew who I was!

"Who are you?" I called out into the darkness, at no direction in particular. "Who am _I_? And whoever you are, how do you know who I am?"

 _There are so many things I could tell you about yourself... so many things, great and small... so many things..._

"Well?" I demanded, annoyed at how vague its answer had been. "Can you start from the beginning, then? Can you tell me my name?" Then I realized how rude those words must've sounded, and mentally slapped myself.

I felt a shaking in the air around me. My muscles seized up in fear. Whoever this voice was, they seemed to be pretty darn powerful. Were they offended by me? I held m breath, bracing myself, ready to be blasted into smithereens. Then I realized - the shaking was _laughter_!

 _Patience, hero..._

"Just tell me already!" I said impatiently.

 _Very well..._

The voice paused for a fraction of a second before continuing.

 _Your name was Perseus._

 _Perseus..._ Suddenly, I doubled over. That one word, that one name... _Perseus..._ Incoherent scenes flashed through my mind, lost in the rearview mirror as soon as I could register them, replaced almost instantly by another.

 _You were named Perseus Jackson, although you preferred to go by the nickname Percy. You were a demigod child of Sally Jackson and Poseidon, the god of the seas. You were born in the year 1993. You had raven black hair and sea green eyes..._

I barely heard what the voice was saying. More scenes crammed themselves into my brain, filling it until it could hold no more, and then piling in even more. A kind woman, her eyes full of love and compassion... an ugly, fat man with a greedy gleam on his face... an apartment... A man in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, smiling with - was that pride?...

 _It is not my place to give to you the memories you lost when you fell. It is not my place to return to you something that you must find for yourself. But I will tell you this. You were a hero, in the purest, truest sense of the word. You saved the gods more times over than I can count. You even refused the greatest gift that can be offered to a demigod. Your fatal flaw itself was unbreakable loyalty. Indeed, you were a hero._

 _You lived a life that is denied to many heroes like you, stars that burn bright and fast. You survived ordeal after ordeal thrown at you, and finally reached peace and happiness that some demigods can only dream of. You had many good friends. You even somehow found love._

But there was still one thing that still bothered me, one thing that didn't fit in with all the information.

"If I was really such a man like you describe me as being... then why am I here?"

The voice seemed to hesitate, for an imperceptible fraction of a second.

 _They say the greatest men always have the worst luck..._ It murmured, more to itself than to me. _Even after all you had done for them, the gods still never really valued you... twice in your debt, and yet they still toss you into the Void as if you are a common traitor..._

"What?" I cried out, surprised. I was a _traitor_? "I _betrayed_ the gods after saving them twice?"

 _No... in the life you once led, you were as far away from being a traitor as anybody could get..._

"Then why would the gods have sentenced me to this place, if I was innocent of any crime?" I'd saved them twice! What reason would they have for betraying me? Surely these gods are fair. Surely these gods have to know about justice, about gratitude, about kindness... They couldn't've, _wouldn't've_ accused someone who'd apparently saved them multiple times, of _treason_...

Would they?

 _If I told you what had happened, you would not believe me._

"Then... how will I know, if you don't tell me?"

 _I will show you._

Then, everything around me came to a complete standstill. The veil of utter silence fell over the Void. For the length of a single heartbeat, stillness reigned supreme over my body.

It began, a small tugging on my consciousness, so slight that I barely noticed it. It was like a small imperfection at the edge of my vision that my eyes had long been trained to ignore. Nothing more than couple of pebbles, only a little more than specks of dust, falling from the roof of a cave.

The falling pebbles that herald a cave-in.

Before I knew what was going, some invisible force grabbed both of my arms. Startled, I cried out as I was slowly dragged. Unconsciously, I began struggling. I lashed out and flailed around, but all in vain. The invisible force was too strong, pulling me irresistibly downwards... down... down... down... down towards what seemed to be a vast, dark surface, smooth as a sheet of ice, a surface that I somehow detected even thought I couldn't see it...

* * *

 ** _(AN: Skip this section if you want to, it's basically the first part of Chapter 1 except told from a sort of 3rd person view. It's about 1.5k words.)_**

 _I stood in the shadows of a huge, circular room. Before me, fourteen massive thrones formed a ring. Fourteen figures sat on those seats, their eyes fixed on a spot in the center of the room, where a lone, chained figure stood before them. I peeked around the edge of the throne that I stood behind to get a better glimpse of who these people were, and what was happening._

 _One of them held what looked like a glowing sword - a lightning bolt? Ozone seemed to fizz around him, making his very presence oppressive. In his narrowed eyes, dangerous thunderstorms seemed to dance, constantly shifting form. He seemed to hold himself with an air of arrogance and contempt. I almost instantly hated him._

 _My eyes fell upon the man sitting to his left. This man didn't have the same suppressing aura as the first; I felt almost like a strange sense of connection to him, as if we were related somehow. He held a trident in his right hand. As I gazed at him, he lifted his head and our eyes met for an instant; blue-green upon blue-green. His orbs seemed to hold warmth and at the same time unmeasurable sorrow, sadness as if he was a father watching the death of a son. I felt an urge to call out to him, to reach out towards him, to run across the throne room and embrace him. But then his eyes shifted away, and with a jolt of sadness, I realized he hadn't seen me. That he_ couldn't _see me._

 _My spirits crashed. I knew that man and I had shared some sort of connection. His eyes seemed so kind, so gentle to me, almost as if he was my father..._

 _Then I realized. Poseidon. He_ was _my father._

 _Then... Lightning Man sitting on his right... that had to be Zeus! And these fourteen thrones... these fourteen figures... they had to be the Olympian council! And if this was the gathering of the Olympians... the Voice had said, "I will show you"... so this had to be a trial, an accusation of treason... which meant that the chained figure standing in the center of the room... was me._

 _I looked around the room once again. Many of the gods were chatting or arguing with each other, looking bored, unconcerned about the fact that a life was at stake. Others glared at Past Me, chained in the center of the room, as if his very presence defiled the air they breathed. But one goddess caught my attention. She studied Past Me with a curious expression on her face. Her silver eyes seemed to hold a strange, unidentifiable emotion in them._

 _The judges. The jury. The executioners._ My _executioners._

 _Just by looking at them, I could already tell which way the vote would go. It was obvious. Too many of the gods hated me, for whatever reason I didn't know, didn't remember. And too many other gods were just unconcerned with my well-being. Too many of them just wanted to escape the trial and go hook up with some mortal. Too many of them were willing to cast a vote for my death just to do that._

 _The rational part of my brain argued, how could I be so certain that this was real? For all I knew, this was all made up, a trick for an enemy to bring my guard down. But somehow, in my heart and my intuition, I knew this really did happen._

 _"PERSEUS JACKSON!"_

 _The room went silent. Now every eye was focused on Past Me, glaring at him, boring through his skull and into his mind. Past Me seemed to freeze, though in shock and denial or indignation and anger at being accused, I couldn't tell._

 _"You have conspired against the gods!" Zeus bellowed. He stood up, towering over Past Me at his full godly height. "You have become too powerful to be allowed to roam freely on this earth! You must be destroyed!" His eyes were blazing, his Master Bolt gripped tightly in his hand._

 _Since when was I powerful enough to be a threat to the gods?!_

 _Past Me desperately looked around the throne room, tears rolling down his face in rivulets. Too many of the gods were showing their agreement, glowering at him like he was the filth at the bottom of a sewer. Other gods just looked bored, eager to cast a guilty vote so they could leave. A minority of the gods looked shocked, but none of them were objecting - some even seemed to be slowly nodding in assent! A single glance around the room could tell anyone with any common sense which way the vote would go. Judging from the despairing, desperate look in Past Me's eyes, he knew as well._

 _"No!" Past Me protested. "I'm innocent! I would never betray you! I saved all your lives twice! My fatal flaw is loyalty!" But even as the words left his mouth, they sounded weak and unsure._

 _"Look at him," A muscular man wearing red-tinted sunglasses and biker clothes sneered. "He doesn't even believe himself!"_

 _Past Me was on his knees, begging now. "If you don't believe me, I'll swear on the River Styx that I'm innocent! I'll swear on the Styx that I'm not a traitor, that I've never helped Kronos and Gaea, and that I won't betray you!" Thunder boomed, and the other gods seemed to fall silent momentarily._

 _Somehow, I knew that an oath on the River Styx was unbreakable, for mortals at least. Even with my knowledge of what would happen next, my spirits seemed to lift up just a little._

 _But then my heart sank again._

 _Zeus looked furious. "Lies! Styx is the wife of a Titan! You must've struck a deal with her! We already have enough proof of your disloyalty!"_

 _Was Zeus really that eager to shed blood today? Was he really that eager to kill a defenseless demigod whose innocence had already been sworn upon with an unbreakable oath? Did the gods really hate me that much?_

 _"I was framed! I'll say it again! My fatal flaw is loyalty!"_

 _"Loyalty to our enemies!" Zeus thundered. "Seize him!"_

 _Three of the gods leaped out of their thrones and charged at Past Me, throwing him to the ground._ _The sword he carried was wrenched away from him, his arms were forced behind his back, heavy bronze chains tied around him._

 _"Please!" Past Me pleaded, his eyes calling out, begging for sympathy, for support that nobody gave. "I'm not your enemy! Listen to me!"_

 _"Silence him!"_

 _One of the gods brutally smashed him on the forehead with the hilt of his sword and forced a rag into his mouth. Blood trickled out of the corner of his mouth and dripped down his cheek._

 _Was this how they treated their heroes? Was this how they treated someone who saved them not just once, but twice? To brutally repress them, not even letting them give their side of the story? Were they really this unjust? Were they really this cruel?_

 _Past Me raised his head and stared at Zeus. For the first time, a flash of defiance lit through his face. "Fine then," he managed to choke out. "If you refuse to believe me, go ahead! Throw me into Tartarus!"_

 _Zeus glared down at him with contempt and hatred. "A very clever attempt, but you cannot fool me. I know everything about your escape from Tartarus, and I will not make that mistake! No, sea scum. Your punishment shall be much worse than that."_

 _Wait... I survived_ Tartarus _?!_

 _Zeus continued. "A being of your power cannot be allowed to live, even in the depths of Tartarus! No, your punishment shall be greater than imprisonment. For daring to betray us, you shall be thrown into the eternal void of Chaos! Your soul shall be destroyed utterly, disposed of cleanly like the garbage that it is!"_

 _Everyone gasped. Then I heard the voice of my father. "No! Brother, you are going too far!"_

 _"Silence, Poseidon!" Zeus spat venomously. "I am the King, and I shall choose the punishment for his treachery. Unless you want to be deemed a traitor, too, alongside the result of your broken oath?"_ _Oath? What oath?_

 _My father became quiet._

 _So nice to know that my father cared for me so much that he wouldn't even try to reason with his psychopath younger brother for more than ten seconds._

 _Zeus looked around the room at every god and goddess. "Are there any more dissenters who disagree with the chosen punishment?" He demanded loudly, his gaze lingering on Poseidon._

 _Silence._

 _"Very well," Zeus finally spoke, satisfied with the silence that he'd received as an answer. "Although I believe there is no question of his guilt, in accordance with tradition, we shall now take a vote. All who wish for punishment, raise your hands!"_

 _Anyone with common sense could tell that this vote was a sham._

 _Zeus's hand shot into the air, followed almost immediately by biker man and a goddess with gray eyes. Four other gods and goddesses slowly raised their hands after a few moments passed._

 _Seven to seven. I looked around the room at the gods who hadn't cast their votes, silently wondering who it would be. Who would turn the tide of the vote? Who would raise the deciding hand?_

 _Zeus looked around in disappointment. "Anyone else? Are you sure you don't want to convict this traitor of his crimes?"_

 _The silver-eyed goddess seemed to be fighting an internal struggle. She hesitated for a split second, and_ _raised her hand._

 _The scene abruptly shifted. Past Me was standing up now, facing Zeus with an expression that showed calmness even in the face of the death sentence he'd just been given._

 _"Yes, the council has spoken, and not in my favor." He said. "Throw me into the depths of the void if you so wish to! There's nothing stopping you now. Go ahead! Do whatever you want with me! But this I swear."_

 _His voice rose. "This I swear. Some day, be it tomorrow or a hundred years from now. Some day, you will regret this choice you have made. Some day, you will realize how wrong you were to convict me, and you will rue this day for the rest of your immortal lives. Go ahead, laugh at me, call me insane for saying this! But one day, you will realize the truth of what I say now. Because the day when you need me the most, the day that an enemy appears that you cannot defeat, I will not be there to fight your battles. You will fight in vain, knowing that you could've prevented your own destruction today. This is the curse that I lay upon you, and this I swear on the waters of the Styx. This I swear on the unending power of the universe, on Chaos himself!"_

 _Suddenly, he surged forwards and spat at Zeus. I gasped. I'd had the audacity and courage to spit on the King of the Gods?!_

 _I stifled a laugh, then realized nobody could hear me anyways._

 _And of course the fun had to be ruined._

 _Ares, Athena, and Apollo leaped at him and threw him to the ground._ _Zeus's smirk had been torn clean off his face. Growling, the god forcefully wiped the spit away. He slowly walked forwards until he was looming over where Past Me lay on the ground._

 _"You. Insolent. TRAITOR!" He spat. Past Me writhed on the ground, leading me to guess that Zeus was zapping him as he spoke. "You have tested my patience enough! For this, you shall not only be forever destroyed, but your name shall be erased completely from history! Your friends and fellow campers will never remember you as their hero! You shall never be spoken of, you shall never hold a place in posterity! That is the curse that I place upon you!"_

 _What?! This was too much! I get thrown into literal nothingness. Fine. But my friends... they'll never grieve for me. They'll never pass on stories about me to their children. They'll never perpetuate my legacy. They'll never remember the friend they lost on that fateful day._

 _They'll never remember him at all._

 _That was the final straw. The final indignity. At that very moment, I made up my mind._

* * *

 _ **(AN: If you skipped that ^^^ section, you can start reading, it's in the present now)**_

I was once more a fish in the endless sea of darkness. I looked around. Had that really been a memory, a relic of my past? Even after I replayed it in my mind, even when I saw myself in the scene, it didn't feel like a _memory_. I'd watched it as I would've watched a scene in a movie. But the memory didn't feel like it was _mine_. It was as if I was seeing it through a window in a detached ivory tower, as if I was eavesdropping on someone else's moment.

 _I cannot return your memories to you. I can show you them, like dreams, but I cannot hand them over to you. When you watch them, you will not feel the sense of recognition that you would if you truly experienced them as your own. I cannot find your lost past for you. That, I'm afraid, is something that you must do for yourself._

The voice hesitated for a fraction of a second.

 _But I can tell you this. For your entire life, even after your incredible accomplishments, the gods hated you. Hated, and feared you. They viewed you not as a great being equal to them, but as a tool, fit only to be used until it breaks and and then discarded. And when you grew powerful enough, influential enough, they saw you not as the hero who had saved them on multiple occasions, but as a threat to their power, a powerful enemy to be eliminated. And to prevent a revolt from your friends, they did what was perhaps the worst deed of all. They erased your name from history._

 _They disregarded your fatal flaw, your history and your accomplishments, even your oath of loyalty on the Styx. And when they were given an opportunity to betray you, an opportunity to brand you as a traitor and to dispose of you, did they stop to think about it? Or did they simply jump at the chance of getting rid of a potential threat?_

In the far corners of my mind, a puddle of rage and bitterness that I hadn't noticed before began to bubble and churn.

 _Your father, Poseidon? Did he stand up for you? Did he vouch for your innocence? Did he defend you as a true father should have? Did he even ask for his younger brother to review the evidence, to allow the possibility that you might be innocent? Or did he cower in his throne, fearing for his own safety, his own power, and the repercussions of Zeus's wrath? Did he do any more than say one sentence protesting Zeus's choice of punishment?_

The puddle grew into a pool, then into a small pond.

 _That silver-eyed goddess you saw? The one who cast the final vote? The one who finally condemned you to your fate, here in this vacuum? She was the goddess Artemis, the man-hater. In the six years since you knew you were a demigod, you saved her not once, not even twice, but three times. Twice, you saved her life along with the other gods, in battles against enemies ten times your strength. It should've been her who fought in your place, her and the rest of her immortal family! But no, they left you and other demigods, their own children, to fight battles that weren't theirs, heaping all the blame on 'the accursed Ancient Laws!' Ancient Laws this, Ancient Laws that, Ancient Laws that they break on a whim 24/7._

 _And even before the battles, you still saved her yet another time. When she was stupid enough, easily manipulated under the titan Atlas's burden, you were one of the ones to come and save her. Why couldn't one of her immortal cousins come? Why couldn't Apollo? Why couldn't Zeus? Because, my friend, of "the Ancient Laws," "the Ancient Laws," "the Ancient Laws!" Instead, they sent their own mortal children on a quest where it was prophesied that two of them would die!_

 _You'd expect that even after the man-hating tendencies, Artemis would still have enough gratitude in her to side with you in the vote. But no! In fact, she was the deciding vote for betrayal! The deciding vote for the final punishment! Do you call this justice?_

A pond of anger. A lake of rage. An ocean of fury and resentment, with simmering volcanoes erupting just beneath the surface.

 _How dare they?!_ I thought. _After all I did for them, they THREW ME OUT like some common TRAITOR, without even considering MY SIDE?!_

But a small part of me still felt like something was a bit off.

"How do I know that everything you've told me so far is the truth? How do I know that you aren't simply trying to feed me false information? You're my only source of information, how do I know that you're right?" Even when I asked that question, I felt like it was the wrong one. I felt like the question I should've been asking wasn't the one I just asked... it was something else...

The voice fell silent for a few moments.

"Well?"

I felt a slight movement in the space around me, as if a soft wind was blowing. It almost seemed like the Void around me was sighing...

 _Very well then... I swear upon the River Styx that everything I have told you is true._

Even in the vat of nothingness, I still thought I heard a distant booming sound. Thunder? Or was it just my imagination, hallucinating the sound that should follow the swearing of the oath?

 _So it was true. So the gods really were cruel and sadistic. So they really did value me only as a pawn._

My fury exploded.

I screamed and shouted, flailing around, landing punches on empty air. My rage poured out of my body even as more fury replaced it. I gnashed my teeth, clenched my fists until I could feel my nails cutting into my skin, struck out at nothing in particular, tried to vent the anger that had bottled up and was unable to escape.

 _Be calm._

Suddenly, I stopped.

For a few long seconds, neither of us spoke. My anger began to dissipate, slowly replaced by a feeling of calmness that washed over my mind like ocean waves on a shore. The muscles that I hadn't realized had been tense, relaxed. The bitter, angry thoughts evaporated, leaving my mind focused on nothing in particular. I felt like I was momentarily free, free of the troubles that I'd suffered, free of everything on my mind.

 _A misjudged, misunderstood, lost hero, trapped in this endless void, condemned to spend the rest of his life in a realm of darkness and silence, the memories of the great life he once led forgotten. But it doesn't have to be this way. You don't have to spend the rest of your life here. This isn't the end, even if the end is what the Olympians wanted it to be. It can be a new beginning._

 _A new beginning..._

 _You have been betrayed, persecuted by a corrupt council of gods who view you not as the person equal to them in all but rank, but as a tool to be discarded after being used. They used you to your fullest, making you their personal beast of burden for anything they wanted done but were too cowardly or too lazy to do themselves. And then, once you could no longer be used, they tossed you out._

 _You loathe the gods, hate them for what they have done to you. Zeus cast you from the world. Your father refused to defend you when it was well within his power. And Artemis... the deciding vote, the last push to exile a hero who saved her three times..._

 _You loathe them, despise them with every fiber in your body... you want nothing more than to see them lying on the ground, toppled from their thrones, powerless against you, fading away, their eyes glazing over, ichor spraying from their wounds and coating your hands golden..._

 _They say that everyone in this universe has the potential to do great things, to change the world permanently for the better. You have done so much to better the world... but perhaps you still haven't reached your fullest potential..._

Such a nice feeling... I feel a bit sleepy...

 _The gods have ruled, tyrannical dictators, over the world for far too long. They're no better than the Titans they overthrew. They claim to be fair. They claim that their rule is a great era. Pah! Far from it. They are no more than arrogant, power-lusting creatures born with a gift of immortality. They are not fit to rule the world. They are not fit to rule anything!_

 _I've had enough. I'm tired of them abusing their subjects, tired of them being arrogant, greedy tyrants. I've had enough of them thinking that they're such superior beings! And I'm sure that 90% of the mythical world would agree, if only the gods let them to speak freely. For too long, their rule has gone unchecked. No more. When the time is right, I will bring them down. I will topple the dictators from their seats of power. Their dictatorship shall be reduced to nothing. And I will usher in an era of true peace and justice, where no one is looked down upon, treated like dirt simply because they can die!_

 _But I cannot do this alone. I am barely at a hundredth of my full power. If I attacked them alone, as I am now, they would defeat me swiftly and brutally. I need a champion, someone who I can train and watch grow, someone who can fight at the forefront of the battle, someone who can help me bring the gods down to the dust where they belong. And that is why I am speaking now, to you._

 _You are one of the strongest, most powerful heroes, perhaps_ the _strongest_ _and most powerful, that I have ever seen in history. You have fought Titans, Giants, even a Primordial goddess, and emerged victorious against them. You, a mere mortal in the eyes of the Olympians, have saved them on multiple occasions. Some have even said that your power rivals that of an immortal. Even the "mighty" Olympian council feared you and how much potential, how much raw potential you had._

 _Remember the oath that you made on the Styx. The oath you made on the name of the Creator himself. This is the oath that binds you to the world, the oath that keeps you alive. And it is within your power to fulfill it at last._

 _You know firsthand how cruel, how unjust the gods can be. You have suffered from their fear and wrath. You have been tortured by them. You have been face-to-face with their true, evil natures, the faces that they struggle to hide._

The words came in my ears, blurry, indistinct hazes of sound. I felt at peace... I felt serenity that I'd never known before...

 _Before you, you have a choice._

 _You can stay here for eternity, floating in an inky blackness on the edge of reality for the rest of time, your memories lost, your identity gone forever, knowing that the Olympians are committing atrocities and that you are helpless to stop them._

 _But I offer you another path. Come with me. Receive my blessing. Become my champion. We will bring the Olympian council to its knees. We will destroy the Fifth Age and bring in a new era, a true Golden Age. And you, you will have revenge against the gods who sent you here. You will make them pay for what they did to you. You will finally reach peace of mind, knowing that the gods are suffering in the depths of Tartarus by your own hand._

Such a blissful feeling... and yet, a tiny part of my consciousness, deep in the back of my mind, thought that something was off, that something wasn't quite right about this peaceful nirvana...

A tiny part of my consciousness that was almost instantly buried beneath a thick fog.

 _I had a chance to change the world. I had a chance to topple tyrants from their iron thrones. I had a chance. A chance for revenge._

I smiled.

"I accept your offer."

Then all I could feel was pain.

Stabbing pain. Searing pain. Crushing pain. Tearing pain.

I screamed as red-hot needles stabbed themselves into me and wormed their way through my flesh. As thousands of tons of suffocating, burning coal were piled upon me. As my arms and legs were torn off then sown back on only to be ripped off again. Pure agony. I curled myself into a tiny ball. I crushed my face into my hands and gasped when I pulled them away and they were covered in sticky liquid. I screamed!

Then it was all over. All was still once more. I was panting. Sweat poured down my body in rivulets. Tears cascaded down my face.

I could barely open my mouth to speak.

"Wha... what was that?"

 _You are the first mortal in history to ever successfully receive my blessing._

"Your... what?"

Didn't feel much like a blessing... seemed more like a curse...

 _My blessing always comes with great pain, such that nobody before you has ever been able to bear it through. You are the first person in existence to have ever survived and received it._

"Wait, wait... WHAT? You gave me something that could've KILLED me?!"

 _Relax, Perseus... I would not have given you my blessing if I wasn't sure that you were strong enough to bear it..._

At those words, I relaxed slightly.

"What does your blessing do?"

 _With my blessing, your speed, stamina, and strength have increased incredibly, and in terms of raw fighting ability, you are roughly on par with an average immortal._

 _All that pain, just for a boost in my strength?_ I thought.

I felt disappointed. Surely this blessing, a blessing that people had died in the process of receiving, had to be more than just that! I struggled to hide my feelings, afraid of offending the powerful Voice.

 _Do not feel so dismayed, hero..._ A soft chuckle rumbled around me. _You really thought that was all to my blessing? You certainly have much to learn. If I just wanted to bestow upon you increased strength, I would have simply fetched you the blessing of a minor god._

 _But my gift is more than that. Far more. For along with the boon of speed, stamina, and strength... comes something far greater, perhaps one of the greatest powers of all..._

 _For with the aid of my blessing, no secrets are hidden from you. No powers are beyond your reach, save those of beings greater than the Titans. All you have to do is put in time, effort, pain, and truly wish to gain it, and be it a month, a year, a decade, eventually, given enough time, the power will be yours._

My eyes widened. _The ability to gain almost any power that I wanted... it was really an incredible gift._

"I apologize for misjudging your blessing. Thank you, uh..." I trailed off as I realized that even up to now, I'd never asked for the voice's name.

 _My true name is not important at the moment. For now, simply call me δάσκαλος._

"So... now what?"

 _Now, your training truly begins..._

Training?

 _Of course, training... you can't hope to defeat the gods as you are now, can you? You need time to grow, to develop, to hone your skills and powers until you are strong enough to fight and defeat them._

Oh, right.

 _I warn you - your training will not be easy. At best, it will be difficult. At worst, it could be life-threatening. At times, you will want to back out. You will want to give up, to stop it. I am telling you this now, because when you accepted my blessing, I did not fully tell you all the risks. But I need to know now. I give you an opportunity to back out now. Will you give up at the first obstacle? Or will you stay determined, perseverant, faithful? Are you worthy of becoming my champion?_

A tiny part of my mind was screaming out alarms, straining to call my attention to it, incessantly shouting warnings about something that I couldn't identify, something that seemed a bit off. What was it? The voice had sworn on the River Styx to the truth of my memories... that blessing, even if it was painful, couldn't be bad... what was that saying again, no pain no gain?

Maybe there indeed was something about the voice - or _δάσκαλος_ , whatever. But it offered me something greater than that, something that I couldn't refuse.

It offered me new life.

It offered me freedom. A way out of the perpetual sea of darkness that was the void I'd been cast into.

And revenge.

Revenge against the ones who had done this to me. Revenge against a corrupt council of tyrants.

The gods had thrown me away, betrayed me, given me an ending. But δάσκαλος had taken the ending and turned it into something else - a beginning.

I had the chance to overthrow the gods and usher in a new world order. I had the chance to do a great thing.

I had the chance to see the looks on the faces of the betrayers, as the betrayee fell upon them like a wolf upon a flock of sheep. The chance to see Zeus toppled from his throne, his symbol of power in pieces on the ground, blood leaking from his neck. The chance to see Poseidon's eyes glazing over as he saw the son he'd failed to save standing over him holding a bloodstained blade. The chance to see Artemis breathe her last, to see her heart give out, to see her expression as she realized that she was the one who had caused her own death, that she could've prevented her own downfall so long ago.

I knew my decision, the response that would seal my fate.

"I will stay by you."

* * *

 _(Unknown)_

Superhuman strength, stamina, speed... incredible fighting ability... and the power. The power to gain any power he really wanted. The power of power. A gift that, given enough time and effort, could make him neigh unstoppable.

But at what a price.

A truly terrible price.

* * *

 **AN: I hope you're enjoying this story so far.**

 **This chapter was originally gonna be a LOT longer, but after more than a month and I still wasn't finished, I decided that I'd upload what I have now and make the rest of it into Chapter 3.**

 **Do you think the events of this chapter were too drawn-out? If so, I'm sorry, and I'll try to improve on that in the future.**

 **Some parts of this chapter were rushed and don't really sound great to my ears, I didn't go back and reread my writing, so sorry about that.**

 **Just to clarify, Percy only lost his memories. Not his knowledge. Meaning, he still knows everything about the Greek world, like the Olympian council, the binding oath on the River Styx, Tartarus, etc. He just lost all his memories about his quests, his friends, his accomplishments, and stuff like that. Basically, he forgot anything that Rick Riordan came up with and remembered anything that was factually correct (besides the existence of the Greek Gods, he knows that too).**

 **When I reread this chapter, there's a lot of stuff that sounds kinda weird. Does anyone else think so as well? I'm sorry if there are any inconsistencies, I tried my best to get rid of them, but if there are any, once again, I'm sorry. Please report them to me and I'll try to edit them out in the future. As always, please review. Thanks!**

 **I have another story as well, Shadows of the Lost World, please remember to check it out and give feedback!**

 **\- XxShadowOfTheFuturexX**

 **P.S.: "δάσκαλος" means "teacher" (according to the _very accurate_ Google translate).**


	3. Interlude

**_AN: Yey, new chapter and... stuff._**

 ** _I'm really sorry for how long it took for me to get this chapter out. (How long has it been? ... dear god...) It took months for me to even type the first word of this chapter, and when I did start writing, it was at a rate of 10 words a day. I don't have an excuse for this; one of the biggest reasons for my slow progress was my laziness and lack of motivation, and I'm sorry for that._**

 ** _(Insert disclaimer here)_**

* * *

 _\- Chapter III -_

* * *

 _(Unknown)_

 _The sea is always moving. Always changing. Always shifting. Never still._

 _Some days, the surface is calm, placid, dormant, grazed only by the occasional ripple generated by a soft, caressing breeze or a lazily drifting boat. So still that the fish beneath the water seem to draw lines on its surface. So tranquil, so restful that a single pebble dropped into the water could create perfect, concentric circles. So quiet, so peaceful that you get lost in the sight of it, that you almost believe you could walk upon it as steadily as upon solid earth._

 _Yet other days, the sea brings violence and despair and leaves destruction and death in its wake. Violent waves rising a hundred feet above, suspended for an instant with a strange, almost beautiful quality, only to crash down upon you, overwhelming you, ripping you from your comfortable bed of safety and devouring you like the hungry maw of some leviathan. Gale-force winds like the breaths of winged monsters, winds that topple ocean liners as if they were toy figurines. Storm surges wreaking havoc and devastation, inundating, tearing apart cities, sweeping away hundreds of lives in the blink of an eye._

 _Unpredictable. Implacable. Uncontrollable._

 _Storms overcome even the most skilled of sailors, water-logging the sturdiest of boats. Maelstroms engulf entire ships in the matter of seconds, sending hundreds down to watery graves. Rogue waves rise from even the stillest of waters, sudden killers that strike the instant they're seen._

 _The ocean is many, many things. But friend is not one of them._

 _For even under a thin facade of serene, motionless water lies a barely-hidden mass of latent, seething rage. Sometimes it is barely visible, skillfully disguised by a cosmetic mask of peaceful ripples with the finesse of a professional actor. But look underneath it all, and it is always there. Always lurking, just beneath the surface._

 _A shock wave can travel unnoticed thousands of miles across the sea, too small to be seen by any except for a trained eye, a deceiving ripple on the surface that does little more than sway boats, just a passing wave left behind in a distance, gone within a moment. Yet the gentleness is a deception, the ripple a mask torn off the moment the wave reaches shallow water. And in the blink of an eye, a monster awakens, a towering, hundred-foot tsunami that rips metal buildings from their foundations._

 _A sailor may glance at the placid waters and the cloudless sky and rejoice. But how many of the calm ripples are truly what they seem to be, ripples that wash mildly, lazily, hiding nothing beneath the gentle, sinusoidal waves? And how many of them conceal monsters? How many of them are lurking harbingers of disaster and tragedy and death, all of it just waiting, waiting for the right time to burst out?_

 _An avalanche begins with a small disturbance. A hurricane begins with a small storm. A firestorm begins with a small flame. A flood begins with a small amount of water._

 _All it takes is a small push for a snowball effect to begin. All it takes is a small push for something small to become something big._

 _All it takes is a small push._

 _A small push._

 _A_

 _small_

* * *

Thunder roared. Fiery forks of lightning split the black, starless sky. All celestial light was blotted out by massive, looming thunderclouds. The wind rattled against anything it could find, be it a building, a tree trunk, or the face of the occasional person.

The streets of New York were largely deserted, and the few souls brave enough to venture out in the torrential rain huddled beneath overhangs, cold and wet despite wearing raincoats. Windshield wipers worked overtime as drivers strained their eyes, struggling even with their headlights to pierce the darkness and the opacity of the sheets of descending rain. A crash on Route 495 blocked three lanes in one direction and slowed traffic down to a crawl.

Waves lashed furiously at the seashore, relentlessly pounding against the New York coastline. The water was black as night, murky from the sand that was ripped from the beaches and swirled up from the seabed. The ocean churned and writhed, hurling tree branches and driftwood around and around and around like pieces of food hurled around in a blender. It was as if it was being tortured, as if it was in agony or rage or perhaps even grief. Like all the rage that it had bottled up, all the latent energy smothered under still surfaces and peaceful ripples was suddenly let out, like some godly container that held it all in had shattered, exploded. Like a monster that, in sleep, forgot about its perpetually empty stomach and boiling temper. A monster that had been suddenly poked awake by a sharp blade.

A television, the screen just barely readable from outside a window coated with water, was tuned to some news channel. At this point, it didn't matter what news channel it was; they were all saying the same thing. The breaking headlines scrolled across the screen. _Freak weather incident. Meteorologists unable to predict or explain. V_ _essel lost at sea, search underway. Minor damage to runway at JFK airport._

Somewhere outside, thunder crashed with a monstrous roar. There was a sound, muffled by the wind and rain, as a telephone pole fell. Inside, the TV blinked once and went out.

The chaotic surf tore at the beach, tossing the sand about. Dark masses of cumulonimbus rolled overhead. Trees bent as an unearthly, howling breath of air shook their trunks and tore at their branches and ripped twigs and leaves and sent them all flying everywhere and everywhere in a deafening, ear-shattering cataract. The peaceful, moonlit beach. The beach of memories.

Rainwater ran in rivulets down the side of the hill, collecting in a small but growing lake that already submerged the entire width of the road below. An onlooker might have thought that the view would've been nicely complemented with a few sinking, crumbling paper boats in the water, but the wind would've blown them away on the path to eternity in seconds. That, and the fact that there were no onlookers.

The hill. Once a final obstacle for many, promising safety and comfort for those who could make it. Nobody ran up that hill that day.

Droplets etched their way through the worn channels and ridges of the bark of the old pine. Its branches shook in the wind, their needles fluttering wildly, some torn completely from their twigs. The fleece hung, bedraggled, soaked through with water like a wet towel, its hue a dirty yellow, a sharp contrast from the shining gold color of better days.

A tree, a hanging fleece, both with storied pasts. Tales of glorious battles.

Both dripping with dirty rainwater.

 _Thud. Thud. Thud._ The rain bounced on the roof of the Big House like hailstones. Though it melded into the background, the methodical thudding was almost entrancing in a way, pulling attention over like a magnet pulls iron.

Dionysus sighed and took a swig of his Coke.

"I guess the old man and Barnacle Breath are going at it again," he muttered to the centaur standing across the table.

Chiron nodded. "This storm has been raging for three days now," he said. "It's definitely not a natural occurrence, especially since normal storms go around the camp's barriers. Whatever Lord Zeus and Poseidon are furious over, it's bad."

The wine god grunted something unintelligible in assent and took another sip from his can.

"You don't think it's because of...?"

"Don't say that traitor's name!"

As if on cue, a bolt of lightning fell from the sky. A flash of light. A shattering roar.

"But... there's no other reason except for... _him_."

Dionysus snorted. "Of course there isn't. Old Kelp-For-Brains's been throwing hissy fit after hissy fit ever since that day his stupid demigod son got executed. It's the old age, I'm telling you. He's getting senile. That Peter Johnson kid was a bad egg, all the evidence proves that, the council voted him out, and he's just gotta accept that. Effin' sea spawn. I never liked him. Always knew he'd turn out rotten, just like all of the other ones I've seen."

Chiron opened his mouth to speak, thought better, and closed it.

"I suppose so," he said.

"Huh." The god responded. "I don't suppose you still think he's another one of your innocent students."

"What? ...Of course not. The Olympian Council found him guilty of treason. ... Why would I sympathize with... a traitor?"

"Hmph. I dunno, I guess I thought you were more sentimental. I wish all the other gods were like that, you know."

"Like what?"

"Accepting that their dear little sea spawn just wasn't the hero of Olympus they thought he was."

The old centaur didn't answer at first, lost in thought as he was, lost in memories from only perhaps a few years ago yet seemed decades, even centuries away.

Memories of teaching a class at a boarding school - Yancy Academy, the name was? Memories of a boy with messy black hair and sea green eyes, a boy who had always seemed so incredibly bored with everything every time he saw him in the halls with his friend the satyr, yet always tried whenever he came to his class, as if knowing what his future held in store for him. Memories of training that boy, memories of arrows snagging in his tail and trying to get him to stand the right way whenever he shot. Memories of the pride he'd felt when that boy, his own _student_ , saved the whole world and despite all that managed to remain humble, modest, denying immortality so he could stay with the ones he loved.

 _Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud_.

"I _am_ an old, sentimental horse," he finally said.

"Eh?"

"Even despite the proof, despite the verdict, I still remember... when I think of Per- _him_ , I don't think of a traitor, an enemy... I think of that young boy whom I first met when I taught that class at Yancy Academy. I think of the student I mentored, the student I watched grow from a boy to a man. To think that he'd turn traitor... it's so, so hard to simply accept."

The wine god snorted again. "I suppose some things just never change, do they? You've been teaching for pretty long, but not as long as I've been alive. Always the optimist, aren't you? Here's what I think. Heroes are heroes. Even if a fresh crop of them seems like they'll be a good bunch, in the end it's always the same. They always grow to disappoint. It's like the god and the mortal are trying to come together and get away from each other at the same time, and in the end you just get this abomination of both. Think whatever you want, hope whatever you want, but I've lost my faith in _heroes_ a long time ago."

"Even your own son?"

The god did not respond.

The rain had intensified to the point where the sounds of the individual drops of rain were no longer distinguishable from each other, all of them dissolving into a single low roar that hovered just below speaking volume.

Chiron looked up towards the ceiling, his eyes unfocused, staring at something, somewhere, far away. _When was the last time the immortal world had been at peace? When was the last time my camp had felt anything but cycles and cycles of pain? When had my charges ever lived without the threat of death looming perpetually over their heads? What was it like before? Before it all began?_

Maybe somewhere, deep in his heart, the centaur knew the truth. And maybe it weighed him down even more than shock and grief and nostalgia. Maybe it was guilt. The guilt of standing by. The guilt of thinking you could've done something, and failing to do it. Or maybe he was just a sentimental old horse after all, just like he'd said. Maybe... maybe...

"Hello? Old horse?"

Torn back to the Big House, Chiron blinked and looked around, momentarily confused.

Dionysus gestured impatiently to the cards on the table. "It's your turn."

Sighing out heavily, the centaur picked up his cards.

 _How far you've fallen, Percy... and how far you've taken the world with you..._

The rain battered the roof of the cabin, filling the one-room building with a sound like huge marbles falling from the mouth of some god-like jar. Campers huddled in their bunks, wrapped in a sleeping bag or covered in blankets. Some were already asleep, lured off to Morpheus's realm by the rhythmic, though loud, battering of the watery marbles. Others were well on their way, in some ethereal chariot not far behind.

Annabeth tossed and turned. Restless like the haunting North Wind, her mind refused to join those of her siblings. She stared at the darkened silhouettes of her fellow cabin mates, their chests rising and falling rhythmically, up, down, up, down, once, twice, thrice. Her eyes wandered over to the library, the bookshelf crammed full, ancient tomes and modern textbooks and prehistoric scrolls shoved together, oddly complementing each other despite their differences in appearance. The engraved owl on the wall above it seemed to gaze down at her with its piercing, lifeless eyes.

To fall asleep would have been a mixed blessing. Perhaps in slumber her mind would be at rest, at rest from the constant tosses and turns that characterized Athena's children. Perhaps at rest, she would have a momentary peace, peace for her restless soul, peace that she hadn't had since the end of the Giant War.

But it was in sleep that the Dreams came.

Now, any demigod could relate. Demigod dreams were rarely if ever the dancing-on-rainbows or whimsical-candy-filled-land of normal people. If a demigod had such a dream, it meant one of two things: either they were loved by Morpheus, which was unlikely, or they were loved by the fates, which was even more unlikely. More often they were visions. Vague visions. Visions of the future. Of their own futures. And demigod futures were never bright.

But Annabeth feared the Dreams not because of that certainty, the certainty of unpleasant things to come; in fact, it was certainty that calmed her, certainty that put her Athena's-child brain to ease.

For the Dreams were anything but certain.

The scenes they showed were her memories twisted into pictures unrecognizable. Scenes like the quests she had gone on years ago, like battles she had fought in a time that seemed so far in the past. Scenes that evoked a strange feeling of familiarity, a sort of deja vu. Yet the scenes were completely alien to her, the events they portrayed incongruent with her memory. Her rational mind argued that they were false concoctions of her subconscious; but how could her subconscious be so imaginative? How could it so accurately depict the wind blowing through black hair, the sparkle of sea green eyes, all of it so strikingly _real_? Mysteries. All mysteries. And the one constant in the Dream, the Boy, a mystery still further.

The Boy.

She could instantly conjure up an image of him. Unkempt, jet black hair. Warm sea green eyes. A camp necklace around his neck, with five beads. A bronze sword gripped by one hand. The tall, commanding figure that somehow held both great authority and great kindness.

What made it stranger was that, in all her years at camp, she could swear that she had never seen him before.

Then why did something about him scream familiarity? Why did she feel like... they had shared some connection, or something more? Why... why, when she saw him, did she feel so much _sadness_?

Dreams, yet somehow more.

The first one had come just days after Gaea had been put to sleep. Rain and wind, a storm rivaling the one that now hurled barrages at the camp. A wrecked car some fifty, hundred feet down Half-Blood Hill. The Boy running up the hill, pursued by a dark shape that solidified into a half-man, half-bull monster. A satyr and another woman - maybe the mother? - close behind.

Then it was Zeus's stolen master bolt. The Golden Fleece. Rescuing Artemis. Labyrinth. War.

And the boy always by her side, like some faithful companion, the boy she didn't know, the boy she didn't know but still recognized somehow.

All of them memories easily recognized. All of them memories engraved deep into the marble of her very being. All of them memories unforgettable, so entwined with her past and her future that they had become a part of her, a part not even the Lethe could wash away. All of them familiar scenes made unfamiliar by her imagination.

Yet... her own memories seemed so alien now.

Sometimes, she really hated the fact that she was Athena's daughter. She wished her mind could just stop moving. She wished she could just... sleep.

Lingering emptiness.

Annabeth's hand hung over the side of her bunk. Blonde hair lay askew draped all over her pillow. Her eyes were closed. A thin line of dribble traced its way from her mouth... had she been awake, she would've noted it.

She slept fitfully but Dreamlessly until the morning.

Far away, in the comparable haven of the Olympian throne room, Zeus sat upon his golden throne with a scowl on his face. Ozone permeated the atmosphere, as if a bolt of lightning would fall within the room itself at any moment. The master bolt crackled with electric energy as it lay diagonally across his lap, a perfect representation of its master's mood.

The other gods sat in their respective thrones, some of them looking up at their leader with fear, others absent-mindedly doing what they normally did during council meetings and paying no attention whatsoever to what was going on around them. Hera sat straight on her throne, her scowl mirroring Zeus's. Athena sat at attention with a rapt eye turned on her father. Apollo and Artemis fiddled nervously with their bows. Hephaestus twiddled around with something in his hand that looked metallic. Ares was doing... whatever he was doing. Aphrodite stared at her reflection, one hand holding the small mirror, the other anxiously dabbing makeup on her face. Dionysus was slouched over in his throne, reading some selections from a wine magazine. Hermes was texting someone on his phone, though every so often he looked up at the golden throne at the head of the room. Hades and Hestia just sat there, whether looking attentively at Zeus or lost in their own thoughts nobody could tell.

The king of Olympus was glaring across the room at a throne. One throne in particular. A certain sea-green, coral throne. The same sea-green, coral throne that he had glared at throughout each one of the last few council meetings.

The throne in question was vacant, devoid of its owner, and had been for quite some time.

Zeus growled under his breath. The smell of ozone intensified. Little sparks radiated from his throne, the flashes of electric light crackling as they dissipated. The air filled with the singed smell of something burnt. _Damn you, Poseidon..._

The king reached for his master bolt, ready to signal for the fifth time that a council meeting was underway and that the Sea God's presence was required by law and that there would be dire consequences for his third absence in a row and―but before he could do so, a miniature tsunami of briny water materialized in the middle of the room, the wave arching ten feet over Zeus's head, and as the god turned his head away in anticipation for the salty sting of the ocean a single piece of seaweed launched itself from the crest and splattered over his face.

Fuming, spitting mouthfuls of seawater onto the floor, wrenching globs of seaweed from his face, the soaking, bedraggled Zeus turned back around just in time to see his brother emerge, smirking, from the midst of a sea-green flash of light.

"POSEIDON!" The king of the gods thundered. He gripped his master bolt till his knuckles turned white.

Poseidon simply looked expectantly at him, still smirking, as he sat himself down on his throne for the first time in several weeks.

"Well?"

"You have skipped the last two council meetings, and show absolutely no regret for doing so! You have shown blatant disregard for your responsibilities as a member of the Olympian Council!"

"Yes, perhaps I have. So?"

"SO?! Even now, you continue to disrespect me and the rest of the council! I believe certain consequences are in order!"

The smirk instantly melted from Poseidon's face. He was across the room in three strides. Before Zeus could charge his master bolt, before he could even move his hand, before _anyone_ could move, his neck was caged between two prongs of a trident. The king of the gods stared in disbelief, shocked into silence, as a few small drops of golden ichor trickled along the celestial bronze that had grazed him on both sides and dripped onto the floor.

Aphrodite shrieked. Athena seemed to make a motion to get up, but thought better. The rest of the gods were too stunned to even flinch.

"You lost the right to my respect the day you killed my son." Poseidon whispered venomously. All the humor in his voice was gone, replaced by hatred. Hatred that dripped from his words into pools of black. "The day the council voted him dead. The day you murdered him. The day you _all_ murdered him."

Zeus gulped, but then glared back with equal ferocity. "You know as well as I do that he was a traitor. He deserved everything he got and more! It's time you accepted that, _brother_." He spat the last word as if it were something repulsive.

The sea god stepped back. His once peaceful sea-green eyes were dark and foreboding. A dark, malevolent aura blasted the gods with power. His Hawaiian shirt and Bermuda shorts, once adding to a benevolent look, now gave a contrast that terrified the other gods. With his right hand, he unceremoniously yanked his trident from Zeus's throne, dislodging splinters of Imperial Gold that fluttered into the king's lap. He looked once more at the god he once called brother, so many millennia ago.

"King of the gods you may be, but next time, I swear on the River Styx that I won't miss. And I promise you that nothing will be able to stop the wrath of the sea."

With the threat still hanging, tangible, in the air, he turned and stalked back over to his throne.

It took Zeus a few seconds to recollect himself, but his actions after doing so were quite predictable.

"TREASON!" He grasped his master bolt and hurled. A clear shot; and if it had gone unimpeded then it surely would've hit Poseidon as he was climbing onto his throne, and while it would not have killed him it would have hurt like hell and ignited his rage like pouring gasoline on the glowing embers ignites a wildfire, but a Stygian Iron sword deflected the bolt, sending it hurtling into the throne room's wall where it exploded, leaving a charred, blackened hole a foot in diameter.

Hades stood up. "Quite frankly, _brother_ , I have to support Poseidon here."

Zeus opened his mouth, about to shout something else, but Hestia's hand on his shoulder silenced him. The goddess glowed faintly red, sending a warm pulse through him, instantly calming his raging temper. "Peace, brother. Let's get on with this council meeting."

A deep breath. A sigh. Zeus sat himself back in his throne, and the other gods did the same.

"Anyways..." He paused to glare back towards the coral throne, and the lip of its occupant twitched upwards. "Let the meeting commence. Does anyone have anything to report?"

"Other than my son being murdered?"

"OH, SHUT UP, BARNACLE BREATH! Your son was worthless anyway! Go throw a temper tantrum somewhere else!"

"YOU DARE―"

(New headline: people all over the country are reporting owls falling from the air, either from trees or mid-flight. The owls in question appear to be deceased, but the manner of their death has confused renowned scientists everywhere over the globe. All of the dead owls have been found coated in a thin layer of water, which leads some to believe that the torrential rain has lent a helping hand. So far, there have been five hundred thirty reported incidents. Stay tuned for more.)

"WHAT―MY SACRED ANIMAL! HOW DARE YOU―"

Both gods were out of their thrones, weapons in hand, about to charge at each other.

"SILENCE!"

Silence.

"Athena, Poseidon, return to your seats at once! We shall deal with this issue later."

"This doesn't involve you!"

"Just do it, for Chaos's sake..." Hera.

Compliance.

Reluctant compliance.

Tense silence.

"Well then, does anybody have anything to report?"

Hephaestus raised his hand. "Aphrodite cheated on me again!"

A couple pairs of eyes fell on the love goddess, who continued to apply makeup to her face with little indication that she heard what her husband had said.

Ares smirked. "Who cares if she did? Maybe you're just not a good enough husband. Not _my_ fault your deformed, half-inch cock can't please her."

"YOU... _my wife_ cheated on me with _YOU_! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

The war god shrugged nonchalantly. "Yeah, we did it last night on the roof of your palace. Best time of my life. I'll even admit it. What are you gonna do about it, punk? Put me in that little fishing net of yours? Ha! I'd like to see you try!"

Flames licked at Hephaestus's blackened palms. Apollo and Hermes on either side of him shifted uncomfortably away. The heat in the room was becoming unbearable.

"You... _DARE_..."

"Yes, you crippled, retarded wimp, I dare. I got the girl and you didn't, so now be a man about it and save whatever little dignity you have."

"Ha, that's funny! Calling me a retarded wimp, why don't you go and look in the mirror for once? How about you try creating something for once instead of tearing things down, war god? But then again, I suppose you wouldn't have enough brain cells for it anyways."

"SAY ONE MORE WORD, YOU LAME FREAK―"

"EVERYONE BE QUIET!"

Silence fell as every person in the room stared in shock at the one who had spoken.

Hestia stood at her full height, three stories tall, wreathed in flames that danced across her skin.

"I'm tired of your immature behavior! You should feel ashamed of yourselves! All of you! You are Olympian Gods, you rule over the world, yet you're acting like a bunch of mortal children!"

Ares and Hephaestus stared, frozen in terror as the warm, gentle goddess of the hearth towered over them, the power of the first-born pinning them to their chairs, swirling over them in tangible waves, almost visible like tongues of fire licking at everything within reach, itching to devour all it can, looking and feeling like some fiery, burning brand of destruction waiting to fall upon its unlucky victim and tend him to pieces.

The goddess raged on, blissfully unaware of the power blazing through the room in flaming coils of red, blissfully unaware of the terrified expressions of everyone around her.

"I'm _tired_ of these council meetings! These pointless meetings that only serve as times for gods to hurl insults at each other! I'm _tired_ of it! All of it! When did our pantheon become so low?! When did we begin to defile ourselves this way?! When did Olympus stop being a haven, a place of respite?! WHEN?! _WHY?!_ "

The power surge stopped, as abruptly as it had begun, as if Hestia had just realized its extent.

"No... what have I done?" The goddess whispered to herself in horror.

The other gods were trapped, paralyzed in various states of fear, shock, and awe.

Zeus was the first to recover. "UNACCEPTABLE!" He slammed his master bolt on the ground. "In light of recent events, I deem Hestia, goddess of the hearth and fire, unfit to participate in the Olympian Council! As of this moment, you are relieved of your duties as an Olympian and are barred from attending all future council meetings!"

It took exactly five seconds for those words to sink in.

When they did, Hades and Poseidon leapt to their feet.

"UNACCEPTABLE?! YOUR behavior is what's unacceptable here, you―"

"Brother, please, you can't just―"

"I AM THE KING!" Zeus thundered. Sparks ignited the ends of his hair, crackling furiously, matching the thunder fod's own temper. "MY WORD IS LAW! Hestia's power is a threat to Olympus, a threat to the council, a threat to _me_! And as such, I have taken appropriate measures to deal with it! Now Hestia, get out of this room! This matter is over! My decision is _final_!"

"Brother, listen to us―"

"This is a council, not a dictatorship―"

"SILENCE! I AM THE KING, YOUR SUPERIOR, AND YOU WILL OBEY ME! UNLESS YOU WANT TO FOLLOW YOUR SISTER?"

Both gods instantly became quiet. _Oh, the way my siblings sacrifice friends, family, loved ones, just to maintain their power, their own safety... it's almost heartbreaking to watch..._

"Peace, brothers," Hestia finally spoke. "If my _king_ wants me to leave, then I shall. What's the use of fighting over it?"

Hades stood up, once again. "Sister, I swear to you I will avenge you. I will never rest until―"

"Please, Hades," Hestia spoke almost gently. "Don't go to war on my behalf. Whatever befalls me, knowing that I've caused another war will make it worse. Please... let me rest... no worse than I am now..."

Hades looked ready to argue, but one glance from the goddess silenced whatever he was about to say.

"Very well then, my _king_. I take my leave. But I depart with a warning. Without me, the hearth goes unattended. Without me, the fire of the home falls into disrepair and sinks into dying embers. You have turned your back on Family, on Peace. And there will be consequences. Let my warning guide you in the years to come."

And before the stunned gods could react, the goddess of family turned away and walked out the door.

In the doorway, she turned her head to see the hearth in the corner, glowing a weak red. As she watched with her very eyes, the flame fell to a quarter of its intensity, now just a couple warm coals nursing a dying fire.

 _How had the hearth sunk so low?_

 _How had Olympus fallen so far since... that day?_

* * *

 ** _AN: So... chapter._**

 ** _Yes, my writing style's changed a bit. I know._**

 ** _And yes, I know I bent the descriptions of some people/places/things to suit my purposes. This is fanfiction, it doesn't have to be perfectly canon._**

 ** _Once again, I'm sorry for the incredibly long wait. I'm even sorrier to say that my future updates will probably be just as irregular. My schedule irl is pretty tight, and I don't have time to write on many days. Next chapter might be coming in two weeks or two years, I can't tell you for sure which it will be closer to._**

 ** _One thing though, I will never abandon this story. I really enjoyed writing it, and I don't want it to go unfinished._**

 ** _Sorry if this chapter was a bit underwhelming or something, I was initially planning on adding more but in the end I just wanted to get it out ASAP, sooo..._**

 ** _See y'all in the next one,_**

 ** _\- xShadowOfTheFuturex_**


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